Super Lap Scotland is the latest championship in Scottish Motorsport. We had a chat with Rory Butcher to find out what it’s all about.
Where did the idea come from?
Back in 2012, Stuart Gray, events manager at Knockhill, made the decision to create a mirror of the Time Attack series as they were not coming to the track in 2013. Stuart put it to Adam Kindness at TrackScotland as an idea, they said they would support it and put it to their network and SLS was born. We’re now into our second year running. Great interest last year. Up to 30 competitors at the biggest events, lots of guys coming from track days and racing, seeing what it’s about. A lot of guys coming from track days who want to compete but not necessarily go door to door with somebody down into turn 1 and risk having a smash. SLS provides that platform for fast road guys to compete against the clock.
What’s the main differences between classes?
All classes are judged on power to weight. 6 registered test centres who will weigh the cars with driver and 5 litres of fuel and placed on the dyno for a performance test and a bhp/tonne worked out. This allows competitors to be split into 6 different classes. 150 up to pro class 450 open. Split between road cars, modified and sports libre. Each class has limits and restrictions for mods apart from sports libre which is open. Some very interesting machines there like Charlie shaw with the space frame focus putting out around 1000bhp. Graham Davidson’s Noble with about 650hp. Very quick indeed. Â All the classes are competitive, right up from the road cars.
Is the racing close in each class then?
Absolutely, due to the setup it levels the playing field. Each class you’ll be up against a number of guys and it will be very close between you. Also the system means that you are competing overall no matter what class you are in, you can still win outright. Points scored goes towards championship points. Everyone has the chance to win. Wasn’t a pro class driver that won overall last year!
Do you plan to keep the events at Knockhill or will there be other circuits?
In the forseeable, we’ll keep it at Knockhill and build on what we have at the moment. New reverse direction circuit allows double header weekends with one day run clock wise, one day run anti clockwise. Technically 2 completely different circuits. Maybe in a couple of years time look at doing an away day somewhere.
Does SLS feed into any other series?
We’re complimenting what the SMRC do at the moment while providing something completely different. For the guys who enjoy competing without racing then they can look to move on in future. Time attack is coming back in May. A big double header with them and SLS. Will be a massive weekend, hosted by modified live on the 24th and 25th.
What can spectators expect from a day at SLS?
Wide range of cars and a wide range of drivers too from Road Cars up to the 1000bhp plus mental machines. All out on track over the event.  We will be running track days during the day too for members of public to enjoy, these won’t be timed, purely for fun. A full day out for all the family. During the double header weekend we’ll have some excellent demo runs too, Benneton F1 car, Flying Fifer drag car with 1500bhp and an 800bhp Gtr!
Any tips for those who would like to come along and have a go?
It doesn’t really matter what level of driver you are or what type of car you have, this championship caters for everybody. Turn up and get your licence on the day. Come along and watch an event, get a feel for it. Get in touch with the club and we can advise how best to get involved.
So there we have it. One round in this year and the competition is hotting up already : http://www.superlapscotland.co.uk/championship.htm
We’ll be joining them over the weekend for the SLS/TimeAttack double header and doing some filming. Get yourselves along and watch some excellent racing.
Tickets available here : http://www.knockhill.com/index_ModifiedLive.php
